The way of a Predacon
by Gemeni9000
Summary: The maximals are preds and the preds are maximals......please R&R!
1. The big invert

Disclaimer; Don't own beast wars/ transformers. They belong to Hasbro and various others. But not me. I'm just mucking around with the characters.  
  
a/n: Okay, I actually got this story off of a star trek comic I read after borrowing it from someone; (Way of the warrior, Devils brew and the dogs of war) Q had heard Picard wish more of his crew were like Warf. Because Warf had handled a meeting with a Klingon-hating species without conflict, and the Q apparently decided to grant Captain Picard's wish. As for the title, I had, after looking at various fanfics, thought about how everyone portrayed them. Some made the Predacons look like 'typical' bad-guys; just plain old evil. Yet Dinobot and other various other instances show Predacons aren't merely just plain evil. Another made Predacons seem like, well, klingons. And although they do both seem as bloodthirsty, the predacons aren't exactly a RACE of warriors. Some are more oppurtunistic. ('You talk like a ferungi!' -K'ehlar-star trek TNG) and some might at times not want to fight at all (Tarantulas would probably rather mess around in his lab and Waspinator doesn't like getting blown up.)   
  
But other than trying to kill so much, I thought for a better relation between predacons. Then I remembered this book I read written by a Rabbi, saying that in most romantic relationships, where opposites attract, one is a 'line' and the other is a 'circle'. The line is the one who's more direct; ruthless maybe, and sees thing going from point A to B. The circles tends to 'mess around', and tend to be explorers, exploring their own little environment. Of course, when applied to maximals and predacons, there were some exceptions; eg. Rampage and Depth charge. But I wanted to try the theory out anyways as well as experiment with some pints (eg. cheetor's orange dream). The story is set in the beginning of the second season. Air razor and Tigatron was left out of the little 'exchange' not only because Terrorsaur and Scorponok were dead, but also because I just can't seem to view the Tigatron as a predacon. Still, everyone else I changed. Anyways, enjoy! ;-)  
  
  
  
It was a sunny day, clear, and from the half-way up the mountain Dinobot was on, it gave him a perfect view of the scenery before him; The ground below was virtually all green with the grasses and trees that made up primitive Earth. The sky above was blue while the sun sank, lighting the side of the mountain Dinobot was on, and would have made a nice view from where he was not that a nice view often meant much to the warrior. As Dinobot weighed the advantages and disadvantages of a potential battlefield, he spotted something large floating in the air, too large to be anything natural, particularly with the way it was hovering instead of flying.  
"Dinobot, Maximise!" He ordered as parts of his beast mode flipped around until Dinobot was in robot mode, and focused his optics on the large object hovering in midair, and saw on closer inspection that the hovering object was inferno. As Dinobot growled, he spotted a streak of yellow in contrast to the heavy green below him, which maximised and no doubt turned out to be cheetor, on the run from Inferno, taking shot after shot at the cat.  
"Dinobot to cheetor, do you copy?" Dinobot spoke through his comm, but only heard static in reply. He tried to contact the Maximal base, but again the comm only brought up static. Obviously Dinobot and perhaps Cheetor were in a Predacon jamming zone. Growling again, frustrated at the distance Inferno lay, too far for his lasers to reach, Dinobot slid down the rock face of the mountainside loosing rocks and stones as he took the short way down, and soon after ran across the green towards the last place he spotted Cheetor.  
  
"Cheetor to base? Can anyone hear me?" Cheetor yelled into his comm for the fifth time. Inferno kept firing again and again shredding the tree Cheetor was hiding behind. Cheetor need backup, and didn't know how long he could hold up. Ducking from Inferno's blast, he tried another shot, missed, tried, and missed again.  
"Gwaaaahhhh! For the royalty!" Inferno yelled, as the tree toppled and the upper part fell over. Before Cheetor could get away from his former hiding spot, he found himself pinned by the tree. Shaking his dazed head Cheetor spotted a glint of something at ground level.  
"Energon." Cheetor exclaimed.  
"This area in property of the royallllllllllllllyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" Inferno yelled as he dropped out of the sky. Cheetor turned and found smoke beginning to billow from Inferno's rear end rotor, making Inferno fall rather than float down. Relieved to see his tormentor go he spotted Dinobot running up, firing his laser optics at the once flying ant. Inferno hit the ground with a thunk, but only took a moment to get up, moaning about his queen.   
"Give it up, you're surrounded." Cheetor said. Dinobot ran over and helped clear Cheetor of the fallen tree.  
But Inferno did not surrender; he stood as well as he could, placing both feet firmly in front of where Cheetor spotted the energon.  
"Must...defend the ...urk!" Inferno took a shot while the two maximals ducked for cover. Dinobot fired his optic lasers again.  
"He's trying to stop us from reaching that energon." Cheetor noted to Dinobot.  
Giving another fire of his optics at Inferno, Dinobot turned to Cheetor. "What energon?"  
"That energon." Cheetor pointed, then ducked. "I was out scouting and found myself in the jamming zone, and before I knew it was in pred territory being chased by bug-face there."  
"Defend the property ......defend the property....for the royalty..." Inferno repeated again and again, his shots getting weaker and weaker as his voice got lower and lower.  
"Daisy .....daisy...... give me your..... answer do...." The ant-bot sang. "I'm ...half crazy... just for the love....offfff yyyyyoouuuuu...." Inferno eventually fell forward as the two Maximals looked at each other confused, and shrugged.  
Dinobot cautiously stepped towards the Inferno, who had gone into statis lock. "Warning." Inferno's internal computer announced, making cheetor jump. "Energon levels dangerously low."  
"Somebody ran out of batteries." Cheetor announced.  
"Indeed." Dinobot agreed. "Perhaps we should leave this area."  
"What about Inferno? And the energon, we can't just leave it for the preds to use." Cheetor indicated.  
"Negative. It lacks honour to attack a downed opponent" Dinobot snorted, and slowly decided to back down. "And it apparently seems the Predacons are in need of this energon."  
"That would explain their lack of attacks the last decacycle." Cheetor thought. He wanted to protest for a moment, but he could see that Dinobot was right. Nodding, Cheetor converted to beast mode and Dinobot followed.  
  
Later, Cheetor and Dinobot sat in the bridge of the Axalon while Optimus and Rattrap listened to their report.  
"You WHAT? With all that energon?" Rattrap coughed.  
"The Predacons apparently had a lack of it, unlike us vermin. It did not seem right to take something while the other was deprived of it." Dinobot pointed out.  
"Well, there doesn't seem to be much fight left in the preds right now." Optimus thought aloud.  
"Oh, great, Dinobutt's getting compassionate. Wonders will never cease." Rattrap commented.  
"You should be grateful for it, vermin, because otherwise..." Dinobot began, but was interrupted by Optimus.  
"Nevertheless, you two did a good job then." Optimus commented. "Particularly you, Dinobot."  
"What? Why chopperface?" Rattrap frowned.  
"Like you yourself said, Rattrap. Dinobot's shown compassion, and whether you're a Predacon or Maximal, it's a good thing. I have to admit I wish more Maximals' were like you, dinobot." Optimus explained.  
"Bah!" Dinobot snorted. "Predacon's do not feel compassion, I assure you. I do not want to be praised for it." With that, Dinobot got up and left in a huff.  
"Hey! That was supposed to be a compliment, for once, you slag-spouting saurian." Rattrap yelled at him.  
"Let him go." Optimus said as the ex-predacon left the Axalon's bridge, heading towards his quarters. Rattrap mumbled something and returned to his console, beginning his night shift.   
"Better get some rest." Optimus said to Cheetor. It was getting late.  
"Oooooh yeah, and don't forget to brush your teeth." Rattrap teased.  
"You're one to talk." Cheetor teased back.  
"And Rattrap, keep an eye on Inferno. You know how wily Predacons are in the hold." Optimus warned as he left.  
"Yeah, little escape artists, I know, I know."  
  
But in his quarters, Dinobot felt secretly pleased with himself. He didn't really know whether to be embarrassed or proud. Predacons were often opportunists, and would, if the roles were reversed, not be so 'compassionate' towards their enemy. Still, as Dinobot thought, it did feel honourable to do what he just did. Perhaps he had been staying for the Maximals for too long, and had been softened up. But the more Dinobot's thoughts wandered, the more tired he became, and it wasn't long before he was asleep......  
  
Optimus finished his routine check up and headed for his own quarters, he couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the thought of Dinobot doing something nice for once. But when Optimus sighed as he closed the door, he heard a laughing sound still, except not from himself.....  
"Who's there?" Optimus asked aloud. "Who are you?"  
"'I have to admit I wish more Maximals' were like you, dinobot'" A voice repeated Optimus' words. "Kind of hard to believe any Maximal looking up to a Predacon. Sometimes it's even better not too look up to others at all, depending on the person..." The voice continued.  
"What do you mean?" Optimus looked around for the source of the voice.  
"Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it." The voice warned, then was gone.  
"Hello?" Optimus called. No reply. But before he could contact anybody, he immediately went into statis lock......  
  
When he woke up, Optimus' processor was as slow as ever, his mind groggy. Thinking back, all he could remember was someone laughing saying something about a wish. Moving around, he felt not air around him but some warm liquid. Turning on his optics, he saw that the liquid was glowing, like a CR tank. Confused, the big robot thought a moment; there weren't any CR TANKS in the Axalon, only CR CHAMBERS, all the CR TANKS were on the predacon base, which obviously meant that he was on the predacon base.  
"WHA..?!" Optimus shot up, alarmed despite his grogginess, and looked at the room he was in. He was on the darkside all right, but there was only one tank in the room, and in front of him was a switched off view screen. He heard a squeak below him and found a rubber duck floating in the tank. And Optimus had spoken enough times to his nemesis enough through communication to know this was Megatron's personal bathtub.  
"GWAH!" Optimus leaped out of the tank as if it was filled with piranhas and searched the room for Megatron. He shot out the door, 'primed' and ready, and angry as well. "MEGATRON!" He yelled as he ran down a corridor.  
  
"WHERE ARE YOU?" Optimus yelled again, and found at the bridge of the Darkside, with its lava down below, but saw no Predacons around the various consoles. Everything was quiet, and nobody was there, except.....  
"Rattrap?" Optimus lowered his weapons, surprised to see the rodent at one of the consoles, feet up, snoring away.  
Optimus tries to wake him, nudging him this time. "RATTRAP!" Optimus yelled. Rattrap jumped up, looking around. "What? My shift up already? Hey...where am I?"  
"You fell asleep!" Optimus yelled, angry again. "And we've been captured!"  
"Hey, it's not as if we've been locked up." Rattrap replied, looking around and seeing no enemies about. "All we gotta do is get outta here."  
Still angry, and apparently having a hard time calming down, Optimus eventually gave up. "Fine. But when we get back to base, you and I need to talk." With that, the two headed for the nearest exit................  
  
Dinobot woke up, and found himself in his old quarters. Getting up, still partly asleep, he didn't really notice it at first, having once stayed in the Darkside before. Getting ready for the day, he left his quarters to see what his duty today would be. But when he reached the bridge, he didn't see anyone about except for Optimus Primal and Rattrap running, guns ready, towards the exit.  
"Maximals!" Dinobot announced, surprised .....but stopped a moment to think and shake his head. "What are they.......Wait.....I'm a Maximal!.........."  
"Darn straight......" Rattrap commented, opening the door out of the Darkside. "I should hope so. Now how 'bout us all gettin' outta' here, huh?"  
Dinobot walked over to the exit. "How did I.... we get here?"  
"Captured...no thanks to Rattrap....." Optimus said annoyed.  
"Can we just drop the subject and get away from here? The Preds could be coming any second...." Rattrap said, waving his hands toward the exit.  
/But there weren't any Predacons...../ Dinobot added silently. Why would Megatron capture everyone and leave the base empty and unguarded? And not leave prisoners in holding cells? And what about the other Maximals?  
Dinobot paused a moment on the latter question. The other Maximals might still be inside. /Maybe someone should help them get out./ Somewhat annoyed at himself, then the other two in front of him, for not thinking about the others first.  
/But they're Maximals. They always think about each other./ Dinobot thought again...  
  
Dinobot couldn't see anything, but neither could Rhinox or Cheetor or Rattrap, they were all blinded, and Cheetor was injured by some snake who popped out before anyone noticed, and the four of them needed to get back to base....  
"Leave him.... he would only slow us down." Dinobot said, waving his hand dismissively at the injured Cheetor.  
"MAXIMALS don't leave their injured behind." Rhinox said firmly.  
  
Well maybe it didn't quite happen like that, but Dinobot got the idea anyway. "It's all your fault that we're here! If you could just stay awake......!"  
Still thinking silently, Dinobot wondered why Optimus, normally calm and reserved, would be so full of rage when he should be agreeing with what Rattrap was saying....  
"Excuse me, fearless leader.... but we still have to get back ta base...." Rattrap noted.  
.......Instead of arguing, but since when was Rattrap so focused on anything when he was busy arguing himself? And they were outside, too, so why didn't the Predacon bases' defences pick up their signature........  
.... their signature.......  
".... So lets get before the Preds find us, where ever THEY are."   
Dinobot noticed Rattrap's wrist. "YOU are a predacon." Dinobot snorted.  
"Huh? Hey yeah...I am." Rattrap looked on his insignia, surprised.  
"No doubt after capture Megatron reprogrammed you." Dinobot commented.  
"Where is he?" Optimus suddenly demanded.  
  
Cheetor woke up, his mind feeling foggy, he tried thinking back. He remembered the dream he had;  
  
Cheetor was sitting on a throne, one that resembled pictures he had seen of human society from Earth, the whole room reminded him of Earth's ancient Babylon or Israel or something. In front of Cheetor in the elaborate throne room was two bots; Megatron and Optimus Primal.  
"Okay, what's the problem?" Cheetor asked the two.  
"These two both claim ownership of this pie." A guard announced, producing said pie.  
Cheetor thought this over for a moment. Then announced;  
"The pie shall be split in half........and both shall receive nothing." Cheetor said, with the split pie now in hand. Optimus and Megatron both frowned. "I shall eat the pie." Cheetor said, beginning to eat the dessert up. But Megatron spoke up.  
"Poor little kitten, you've lost you're mitten, however shall you eat your pie?"  
Cheetor looked down at the dessert longingly. "But.....I like pie." Cheetor protested.  
"No, no, no no!" A transformer which Cheetor had never seen before, but appeared to look like it could transform into some sort of tank and sounded strangely like Rhinox, appeared. A diagnostic drone flew up and took a look at the script the tank-bot was waving around. "It's supposed to be an orange, look at the script you fool!" The diagnostic drone looked at the script and then bowed to the tank-bot. "My apologies, master."  
"Oh, let's just do it again from the top." The tank-bot groaned.  
Then the scene started again.  
"Your highness, these two men claim ownership of this orange." A guard said.  
"Okay, the orange should be cut in half, and both shall receive half." Cheetor announced. But when it was done, Cheetor saw that Megatron used half of the orange for it's peelings, and Optimus used half of the orange he had for its juice.   
"Damn!" Megatron announced. "I only half the peelings I need.....and Optimus has the rest. I'm just going to have to take it by force...."  
But once Megatron started firing at Optimus, Optimus had to fight back for self-defence. Soon a big shoot out began, until the fight escalated into a war......  
And as Optimus noticed this, he announced; "From this moment on let this war be known as the 'orange wars'!"  
Then Cheetor got upset. "Slag.....I should have listened to both of them instead...."  
Then the scene changed again. Cheetor was sitting next to a river, surrounded by reeds and rushes and grass. Then Cheetor spotted Quickstrike next to him.  
"Ah need to get across here river....but ah can't swim. Howabouts you let me ride yer? Since you're getting ahcross the river yerself?" The fuzor waved a pincer at the river.  
"What? I'm not letting a pred on my back. you'll just kill me!" Cheetor said.  
"Listen ter yerself. If ah sting yer, we both sink to the bottom, and I'll drown mehself."  
Cheetor then agreed to let the pred ride on him. "Yeee haw! Giddy up!" Quickstrike laughed.   
But when Cheetor had swam halfway across the river, he felt a sharp pain on his back, then noticed he had been injected with cybervenom, from Quickstrike. As Cheetor's limbs slowly stopped moving as he became more and more paralysed, and Cheetor sank into the water, the cat asked the pred; "Why? Why did you sting me? Now we'll both drown!"  
"Ah'm sorry. Ah couldn't help it....Ah guess it was in mah 'ere nature......"  
And Cheetor sank below the surface. he couldn't breathe.....water was around him.......but eventually he gave up, and let the water flow into his air filters....  
..........but it was air......then Cheetor woke up, gasping, then groggy.......  
  
"Weird." Cheetor commented, shaking his head, then noticed he was in a holding cell.  
"Hey, what am I doing in here?" Cheetor asked aloud, alarmed. "Hey, anybody? Optimus? Rattrap? Silverbolt?"  
"You're the only one here......." Cheetor heard someone talk from the shadows.  
"Who's there?" Cheetor asked nervously, back arching in a cat-like gesture. Not wanting to face his enemy on all fours, he decided to arm himself.  
"Cheetor maximise!" Cheetor announced. Nothing happened. Cheetor tried again.  
"Try ... 'terrorise!'" The voice said.  
/I'm a predacon?/ Cheetor thought to himself. Oddly enough, it didn't seem that disturbing, so Cheetor announced. "Cheetor terrorise!"  
Sure enough, Cheetor's cheetah body flipped around until he was in his transmetal robot form. "How did I become a predacon?" Cheetor wondered aloud.  
"Hmmmmm I wonder how indeed." The voice said. Then, out from the shadows, a transmetal T-rex produced itself.  
"Megatron." Cheetor hissed. Even odder was despite the fact he was now predacon, he still didn't like the tyrant. "So I'm predacon no thanks to you?"  
"Oh, not because of me, I assure you." Megatron said calmly.  
"Huh?" Cheetor wondered.  
  
Optimus, Rattrap and Dinobot went back into the Darkside and decided to use the computers there. They found Silverbolt had woken up, confused, and was acting as rowdy as Optimus currently was. Rattrap was busy messing with the Darkside's consoles while the others talked Silverbolt over. They couldn't find Cheetor or Rhinox, though, and decided to look for them too, but Optimus wanted to know where Megatron was first.  
"Okay, hope this works....... Computer, search and locate predacon unit Megatron." Rattrap said.  
Optimus, Dinobot and Silverbolt watched the computer's display eagerly.  
"PREDACON unit Megatron not located on map..." The cool feminine voice of the computer replied.  
"Slag. Must be hiding in one of his jamming zones or something." Rattrap frowned.  
"....MAXIMAL unit Megatron located at maximal base." The computer continued.  
"WHAT!?" All four predacons yelled at the computer, dumbfounded.  
  
"Rattrap stared blankly at the computer screen for a moment, then regained his sensed.  
"Ummm.....Computer, search map for any other Maximal signatures." Rattrap said.  
"Maximal units; Tarrantulus, Waspinator, Quickstrike and Inferno located at Maximal base." The computer announced. The 'predacons' stared again.  
Rattrap didn't waste any time though. "Locate predacon signatures Rhinox, Cheetor, Air razor and Tigatron."  
"Predacon units Rhinox, Air rasor and Tigatron cannot be located on map." The computer announced. "Predacon unit Cheetor located at maximal base. Maximal units Air razor and Tigatron located at Grid Fangor."  
"Hey! How come they stay maximal?" Rattrap asked.  
"But they're far away by now." Optimus said. "That's probably why they weren't reprogrammed. Megatron reprogramming us and him being maximal sounds like another one of Megatrons schemes."  
"Not this time." A voice said behind them. Turning around towards the exit, they spotted Blackarachnia, tossing some device in her claw. Upon looking, they noticed that Blackarachnia was also a maximal.  
"My little energy-masking device was right where I left it after all this time. Aren't I lucky?" Blackarachnia indicated the device she held, which was probably how she, being a maximal, got past the predacon defences.  
"Hahaha! It looks like we've found the last maximal on our list." Silverbolt sneered, arming himself. Rattrap and Optimus did likewise.  
"Wait!" Blackarachnia yelped. The predacons didn't lower their weapons, but didn't shoot either. "I wake up in the middle of nowhere and find I'm a maximal, and by the time I DO get to base, I find a bunch of predacons who used to be maximals. If this was Megatron, why didn't he tell me about it, or leave me outside?"  
"And just why should we believe you? Or let you live a moment longer?" Optimus growled.  
"Hello, I'm a maximal! As in, reprogrammed into! Why would I lie?" The she spider protested.  
"Actually, in my experience, I have known maxinals to lie.......but this time spider, I just might believe you." Dinobot commented.  
"What about you three?" Blackarachnia asked the other predacons.  
"Well, you know how much I like spiders......" Rattrap smiled.  
"And I don't really think we want any of your advise, Maximal or otherwise!" Silverbolt said stubbornly. "So get lost or you'll be blown to slag."  
"Hey! All I wanted was to talk about this like civilised..." Blackarachnia protested.  
Optimus interrupted her though. "Slag it all! I'm sick of talk! I want to SHOOT something!.... I'll shoot you!" And demonstrated this by shooting just inches away from Blackarachnia's face as she ducked, so that the shots went into a wall, making a small hole in the wall. Seeing as she wasn't getting any cooperation, she transformed into beast mode, ducking under optimus' blasts, and jumped out the hole hanging by her web. As Dinobot watched the 'predacons' shoot after her like a pack of bloodthirsty Sharkticons with rifles, he shook his head and decided maybe he should leave, maybe try talking to the she-spider. She might have a clue at least as to what was going on. This might be one time the 'Maximals' and the 'Predacons' would need to work together for once....  
  
Meanwhile, Rhinox, having gotten up, wondered at once where he was and how he had gotten there. He couldn't remember much, and his head felt groggy. After looking around, Rhinox found himself in some cave, and with all the gadgets about, Rhinox came to the conclusion that he had somehow ended up in Tarantulas' lair. Rhinox couldn't see the spider anywhere about, but figured that if Tarantulas did show up, that he would be more than a match for the spider. As he looked at the lair, Rhinox wondered what to do. There were plenty of gadgets he couldn't even imagine what each was to be used for. But he was sure he could learn. But for now maybe he should head back to base. He hesitated only when he wondered what he would do when he reached the Maximal base. Rhinox wasn't sure..... 


	2. Maximal dilemma

Cheetor paced back and forth in his small cell. He wasn't sure if it was his Predacon programming or simply his Cheetah instincts, but Cheetor felt incredibly impatient. But all he could do is pacing back and forth. So that was what he did. But while he was at it, he kept listening to the 'maximals' in the Axalon, thankful for his good hearing. He didn't hear what they had planned for him, and figured that they probably didn't know what to do with him. Or themselves. The other's however.....Were on the Axalon's bridge.................  
  
"So...er......bossbot. What do we 'ere do now were all maxis?" Quickstrike asked inquisitively.  
"Maybeezzz Waspinator can go to Zybertron now that Waspinator izz a maximal." Waspintor thought hopefully.  
"Idiot!" Megatron snapped. "Just because we're bearing the Maximal insignia doesn't mean the Maximal council won't recognise us as the Predacon criminals we started off as. Noooooo. They will treat us the same as before."  
"But what about the beast wars? If we win the war for the predacons, we'll be left out." Tarantulus thought aloud.  
"A likely outcome. No doubt the predacons will rather stay banished as they are rather than have a war beaten for them by Maximals...." Megatron agreed. "And if we did win, they will probably reject us, leaving us as the outcasts we originally were as predacons."  
"So were stuck on this 'ere dirt ball?" Quickstrike frowned.  
"Grrrrr Waspinator zick of thiz ztupid planet!!" Waspinator whined. "Waspinator alwayzz getz blown up here! Waspinator just wantz to give up! But now Waspinator hazz nowhere elzze to go to!"  
"Give up? GIVE UP? After all we've been through?" Megatron said incredulously. "What about power? Or glory? We still have plenty of energon; we could still rule Cybertron if we tried!"  
"Royalty.........what about the golden disks?" Inferno blurted.  
"Why...YES! We're maximals now, in the maximal base. We can finally get the golden disks that traitor stole!" Megatron grinned.  
"Bwah ha ha hahahaha!" Tarantulus suddenly laughed.  
"And what, pray tell, are you laughing at, you sickening spider?" Megatron frowned.  
"HA! If Dinobot's a traitor, what are we?" Tarantulus asked.  
"At least we're not maximals by choice!" Megatron snarled, then turned to the Axalon's computer. "Computer. Tell me the location of the golden disks." Megatron demanded.  
The computer took a moment, probably confused by the sudden demands from 'unregistered maximals', but eventually gave Megatron an answer.  
"Blast! The maximals only have the alien disk!..........Dinobot probably hid the other disk from both sides. But at least we have one for now......" Megatron paused, looking at each of the maximal's faces. "Where's Blackarachnia?" Megatron suddenly demanded.  
"Sugah bot!" Quickstrike realised she was missing.  
"Computer." Megatron demanded again. "Search map for maximal unit Blackarachnia."  
"Maximal unit Blackarachnia located outside of predacon base." The Axalon's more masculine voice replied.  
"Hmmmmmmm." Tarantulus thought. "Inferno was swapped with the furball. Blackarachnia probably had her body swapped with some Maximal that was outside, then headed back to her original base."  
"All the maxi........predacons are there! What'll happen ta sugah-bot?" Quickstrike asked alarmed.  
Megatron frowned. He needed Blackarachnia. He couldn't let her get hurt.   
Megatron paused on that thought however. What kind of thinking was that?   
/It's because Blackarachnia no doubt has the information that other disk has. Yes, that's it./ Megatron thought to himself.  
But Megatron still felt confused. He decided that he should rescue Blackarachnia before anything happened. Then he wouldn't have to worry about the information.  
And then?  
/And then I'll find a way to win the beast wars, and then rule Cybertron!/ Megatron thought.  
And then?  
/And then I'll rule! I won't have to worry about the maximal elders OR the tripredacus council! I will be powerful beyond imagination!/  
And then?  
Megatron hadn't thought about that. /Why....I'd live happily without being slave to anyone!/  
And then?  
Megatron didn't know the answer to that. The best thing he could come up with was that some other oppressed transformer would rebel and take over his control. He wouldn't be happy then.  
And then?  
/No, no 'and then', I just want to rule Cybertron!!/  
And then?  
/Shut up!/ Megatron yelled in his processor.  
And then?  
/SHUT UP!/  
Silence...... Megatron's head was clear for a moment........  
  
AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN!  
  
"Shut up! Shut up!" Megatron yelled, clutching his head.  
"My queen! Are you all right!" Inferno asked, alarmed.  
"Of course I'm all right! You buffoon!!" Megatron said angrily, due to his newly acquired headache and his hated designation of 'queen'. But one look at Inferno's hurt look made him regret his outburst.  
"Sorry. I'm having trouble with this maximal programming." Megatron said. "Let's just go find Blackarachnia."  
"Indeed." Tarantulus agreed eyes narrowed at Megatron.  
/Maybe I should forget about power. Maybe I should find away to become a predacon again.....Before being a maximal drives me insane!/ But as Megatron looked over that thought, he realised that was wrong. He had been insane before. This......somehow......was different........  
And then.........?  
  
Tarantulus stared incredulously at Megatron. Since when did he ever use the word sorry?  
But he had other worries. Like Blackarachnia.......was she all right?   
And as Tarantulus' own train of thought moved on......... he had to wonder; which ex-maximal ended up in his lair?  
  
It didn't take Rhinox too long to figure out he was a predacon now, which eliminated his idea of returning to the Axalon. With sentinel online, rejecting any predacons, unless the predacon had ample firepower, Rhinox wouldn't have much luck entering. And who knows what his former comrades would do with him? Save him? Well, maybe he didn't want to be saved.  
But seeing as he couldn't go back to the Axalon, being a predacon, maybe he should go to the predacon base and see what his new chief wanted. But no, that wasn't right, either.........  
Megatron wasn't his chief. No one was chief of Rhinox! Besides, if Megatron was the one to command him after reprogramming, why wasn't he with Megatron? He was in Tarantulus' lair. Logically, Tarantulus must have been the one who reprogrammed him.  
/Well, if he's after a loyal subject, he's sorely mistaken/ Rhinox thought to himself. He believed he could handle Tarantulus, and decided that he should stay in his lair. When Tarantulus returned, Rhinox will show him who's boss, then move on....... To the predacon base! And rule the predacons!  
  
Blackarachnia trudged away along the ashes from the red-hot lava that surrounded the Darkside, trying to figure out what to do. She was a maximal now. But war and behold, all the maximals were predacons! The former predacons had become maximals, like her, according to what she caught off of the Darkside's computer, and the maximals should be on the Axalon. So, duh! She should head there. But it was a far walk, and Blackarachnia wasn't in the mood for walking.....  
She suddenly sensed movement behind her. Arming herself, she looked around the harsh landscape to spot the source of the movement. She relaxed only slightly when she spotted the lithe form of a velociraptor, his bland brown mixing in well with the surroundings. But so did her own colouring......... repainted after her transition to a maximal, instead of being gold and black, she was now red and black.  
"You?" Blackarachnia raised an eyebrow. "What do you want?"  
"Despite the other......... predacons aggression and mistrust, I believe an alliance is required." Dinobot stated.  
"Okay........." Blackarachnia replied uneasily, glancing at the hole she had just ran out of.   
"Perhaps we should move away from here. Optimus apparently as a predacon is...... excitable. And has a grudge against Megatron. It will not be long until he decides to go against the maximals in their base, and shoot everything in his path......"  
"Okay. You wanted to discuss a truce?" Blacarachnia asked, lowering her weapon. Sure she was in a bad mood for walking, but she felt less happy about fighting than walking. "Unto what end?' Blackarachnia asked skeptically.  
"To an end where the maximals are maximals and predacons are predacons. The ways things are......... are unnatural."  
"Why? What's wrong with a maximal being a predacon? Or vice versa, like yourself?"  
"Whatever importance it may be to be in whatever allegiance you choose, it is more important to be yourself." Dinobot snorted.  
"Go on." Blackarachnia glared at him.  
".....Optimus is now a predacon, as well as the others. They are unfamiliar with predacon emotions. They are out of control. They need to get control."  
"Hey! Wait a nano....... I was a maximal. I handled being a predacon just fine!" Blackarachnia frowned.  
"That is very good for you, she-spider." Dinobot snorted. "But obviously Optimus will not handle this transition so well."  
"And what about the 'maximals'." Blackarachnia asked.  
"Should not they, too, be changed back?"  
"Maybe." Blackarachnia started. "Although it's possible that the predacons being maximals might be a blessing in disguise to you."  
"Really?" Dinobot asked skeptically. "I doubt Megatron will tolerate being a maximal."  
"So?"  
"It is not my place to decide whom or who not is a predacon or a maximal. Besides Megatron may be insane, but the current situation may very well be worse."  
"Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, huh?" Blackarachnia shrugged.  
She stopped to rest for a moment. Dinobot walked a bit then growled when he realised that she stopped. "What about the new predacons?"   
"That will be up to the predacons themselves. I doubt they would want to stay this way, either." Dinobot snorted again.  
"Perhaps." Blackarachnia said, looking off into the distance, admiring the scenery. It may have been a desert, but it was not without it's own, dry beauty. Blue sky and the yellow-brown earth fought against each other in a competition of which can be the hottest, while dead looking trees and sparse wildlife desperately clung to whatever moisture it could get. Odd boulders help vary the geology, while the desert appeared loosen up and let more vegetation thrive further off.  
/Yes, perhaps./ Blackarachnia thought to herself. The new predacons may want to change back. But she had been a predacon, and she had preferred to stay that way.  
"And what if the predacons don't want to change?" Blackarachnia prodded Dinobot.  
"Then......we should convince them to gain self-control, at least, before they harm themselves." Dinobot snorted.  
"Harm themselves?"  
"And I do not necessarily mean in a physical sense. As I said, it is important to be yourself."  
  
Megatron flew in his hover-jet mode, with the fliers following to his right. He didn't think Quickstrike or Tarantulus was required to look for Blackarachnia. But Quickstrike insisted. Tarantulus was left behind to guard Cheetor, even though he was also wanted to go, particularly interested when Blackarachnia disappeared off the scope. Odder was that her signature vanished where Megatron was sure that there was no jamming zone. Besides, Megatron was feeling strangely lenient after the headache he had, but the maximals did have a prisoner. Now he was outside, he scanned the ground, his superior sight allowing him to see quite a bit. But he couldn't see Blackarachnia. He did see some footprints. He began to land to study them further. The other fliers with Quickstrike astride Inferno caught up. On closer inspection, Megatron was certain that a spider made the tracks. He transformed.  
"Hmmmm. A spider made these. But they are the wrong size for Blackarachnia's."  
"Bzzzzzzzzz Waspinator smellzz Tarantluzzzz."  
"Well, obviously that scheming spider has been scurrying around these parts. And built his own personal jamming zone. What is he up to now?" Megatron thought.  
"What 'bout sugah bot?" Quickstrike prodded.  
"Hmmmmmmm, yes. I'll leave Tarantulus and this place for a more appropriate time. Besides, he's better when he's left to scheme." Megatron then transformed again took off into the air, only to be shot again. He landed hard on the ground, and took his time getting up with his little tyrannosaurus arms. It gave him plenty of time to listen to the shooter yell.  
"MEGATRONNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!" Optimus yelled, landing than transforming before arming himself to the full. Silverbolt with Rattrap riding him followed soon after.   
"Ah, Optimus. I'm so glad that we finally had a chance to meet!" Megatron grinned.  
"Save it." Optimus frowned then took another shot at Megatron. But he maximised then and took shelter behind a rock and began snipering.  
Silverbolt and Rattrap were not idol though. Rattrap began shooting at Waspinator, while Silverbolt threw his wing missiles at Inferno.   
Inferno laughed and ignored Silverbolt, running over to Megatron's aid. Silverbolt, frustrated, ran after him only to be stung with cybervenom by Quickstrike.  
"Now it's just ye an' me, tinhorn!" Quickstrike yelled.  
Waspinator barely had time to maximise properly before he was shot out of the sky. Waspintor tried shooting Rattrap from where he lay, but had the gun shot out of his hand. Rattrap smiled then approached the wasp, while poor Waspinator gulped then buzzed in worry........  
"What? Nothing to say?" Megatron goaded Optimus from behind his cover. "No speeches? No questions?"  
"Yes, one question; want to give up?" Optimus smiled.  
Megatron smiled then took a shot. "And what, pray tell, if I don't?"  
"Eat lead." Optimus prepared another shot......  
"Oh really?"  
"For the royalllllltyyyyyyy!!" Inferno flew overhead. Surprised, Optimus looked up only in time to see Inferno's shot come straight for him. Megatron took his chance and also began shooting at Optimus with Inferno until he was down. Inferno floated down as Megatron ran up to check that Optimus was out.  
"My queen." Inferno bowed. Megatron growled and grabbed Inferno by the neck.  
"DON'T. CALL. ME. THAT." Inferno could only nod in reply, particularly since Megatron was squeezing his voice synthesiser.  
Quickstrike had put a good dose of cybervenom into Silverbolt's hand. Silverbolt could only use his other, as the first lay paralysed.  
"What 'ave yer done to mah sugah bot?" Quickstrike yelled.  
"Oh quit yelling and fight." Silverbolt snarled, then shot missiles at the other fuzor.  
"Yer asked fer it, tinhorn!" Quickstrike replied. He shot the wing-missiles with his snakehead, then shot Silverbolt in the head. The reload for his weapon was faster, at any rate. Quickstrike shot him again so that Silverbolt would go down. He then went to see how the other maximals were going.  
Rattrap had taken shot after shot at Waspinator, now mostly a pile of random spare parts. Waspintor's mangled head rolled off the top. "Oooooooh, Waspinator has a headache in his whole body!" Rattrap stood over the pile, putting his gun in its holster. "Heh heh! Never knew shooting pre...maxis was so fun!"  
He didn't see Megatron sneak up behind him. The ex-predacon touched Rattrap on the shoulder. He turned his head then armed himself again. Not in time to get punched in the face, though.  
"Ugh! Yer preds are sick!" Quickstrike shuddered. "Since when did we shoot a downed bot?"  
"Your the one that always shot me when downed, drone!" Inferno pointed accusingly.  
"Well, er.." Quickstrike scratched the back of his head in shame.  
"Enough of this." Megatron snarled. He picked up Rattrap.  
"You! Why did you attack us? Where's Blackarachnia?"  
"........Like I'm gonna tell you, Mega-jerk" Rattrap looked away.  
"Oh, quit it with the predacon audacity and spill it!!" Megatron yelled again, shaking the rat by the shoulders.  
"Erk! Okay, okay!....... Webs took off after our 'fearless leader' went berserk on your old base. As for why we attacked you....... We were going to get our furball."  
Megatron dropped rattrap. Already injured from battle, the fall didn't do much worse.  
"Oh yes.................The pussy cat." Megatron had somehow forgotten that the maximals had Cheetor captive on the Axalon and would motivate the now-aggressive predacons to attack them, berserk as they were Megatron half expected them to not have a reason at all. But then, it seemed that any excuse would do to let a predacon fight.   
"Well then..." Megatron looked down at Rattrap, putting his foot down to pin him. "Inferno! Take Waspinator to the maximal base and get him repaired. As for you......" Megatron armed his weapon, and pointed it at Rattraps face. ".... No hard feelings, but I do need to get rid of any possible menace."  
There was no mistaking the fear Rattrap had on his face, no matter how he hid it. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. But nothing happened. Opening his eyes, he found that Megatron had changed his mind and instead had a troubled expression on his face, which kept on looking between the Waspinator pieces Inferno was picking up, and Rattrap. Obviously, whatever maximal mercy Optimus and the others once had was lost onto the current maximals.  
"Ugh!" Megatron growled finally, and instead hit Rattrap out cold with the side of his tail-gun. "Sometimes I sicken myself."  
Leaving the maximals were they lay, he ordered Inferno to activate sentinel since the predacons will be online later. "Quickstrike! You and I still have to find Blackarachnia." The tyrant transformed, and went on foot to look for the she-spider with the fuzor eagerly keeping an eye out.  
  
  
Blackarachnia had transformed to beast mode, considering she was in Earth's environment. This however did not make her go any faster.  
"Grrrrrrr, will you not speed up you detestable widow?" Dinobot snarled behind him.  
"Easy with the name calling, would you? And besides, what's the big hurry? Where are you taking me?"  
"We are headed towards the maximal base. Like you said, we should not decide who is who. I prefer to see the state of Megatron and his troops and what they plan to do before we do anything. Besides, they might be looking for the same goal. And considering Optimus is no doubt going to attack......."  
"Okay, I get the idea. But I can't help it if spiders aaaaiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"  
Dinobot looked back in surprise to see Blackarchnia blasted away. Landing behind a rock, Dinobot saw the bullet marks lining Blackarchnia's cover. Alarmed, but ready for battle, Dinobot transformed...... or at least tried to.  
"Dinobot! Maximise!"   
Nothing happened.  
"Slag, I.........." Dinobot didn't get to finish. He was blasted backwards in the same manner as Blackarchnia had just had. The predacon rolled towards the shelter behind the rock with the spider, although it was not easy for a raptor to roll. "Terrorise." Dinobot said weakly. Blackarchnia took a moment to moan a bit before she did likewise.  
Dinobot shot his eye lasers at the source of the attack. But as the laser ended, Dinobot spotted the attacker.  
"Rhinox?"  
  
Rhinox had been waiting impatiently for hours, and not a single transformer had turned up. The only things that did seem to move was the local wildlife, which by now Rhinox was having a grudge against, and the spider-lamps that Rhinox constantly shot for fun, since the wildlife wisely kept away. Sitting down just outside Tarantulus' cave, in beast mode, Rhinox kept going off-line in the afternoon heat and the sheer boredom of it all. He was interrupted from it when an impala began to charge towards him. As Rhinox watched it leap over the cave entrance and climb away to it's own business, the rhinoceros heard two sets of footsteps move towards him, although not close enough to spot him.   
"Rhinox, terrorise!" Rhinox announced, transforming into his big, green guy with chain-guns mode. He hid behind the entrance and kept a watch out from where he hid.  
Sure enough, two transformers were walking past Tarantulus' lair, from what he could see was a spider and some other robot approaching. His first thought was  
/Aha! Finally I can beat the slag out of Tarantulus!/  
And so he hid in the cave, ready for an ambush, and when he was sure that his prey was close enough, and went out chain-guns blaring and all. But then he noticed the spider was a female. He wasn't surprised. Where there was Tarantulus, Blackarchnia was soon to follow. But He was more surprised to see Dinobot, side by side with the widow. Wondering what was going on, he decided to shoot first, and ask questions later.  
  
Dinobot shouldn't have been surprised, after all, the big giant had to turn up somewhere, and the Darkside's computer didn't really tell anyone where he was. He growled in thought, while Blackarchnia's arm-legs crawled along the side of the rock, and used them as a snipering machine gun. This did not work, considering that the arm-legs where shot off of her arm. Frowning at her lost appendages, she turned to Dinobot. "Hey, can I borrow that?" She pointed to Dinobot's tail-shield.  
Soon after, Blackarchnia was approaching Rhinox behind Dinobot's tail shield. The spinning thing still let in a few bullets, but it wasn't that serious. This allowed her to get up close to Rhinox. But the ex-maximal grabbed her over the shield by the neck and pinned her against the wall, slowly strangling her. Blackarchnia, in response, threw the tail shield at him, and used the momentary distraction to knee Rhinox in the stomach. The guy was tough enough she had to knee him again, harder. Clutching his stomach typically gave Blackarchnia a chance to get out of Rhinox's grip, and she took this moment to inject Rhinox with an appropriate amount of cybervenom. Dinobot came running up, while Blackarachnia collapsed on her knees, apparently lacking breath. He stared at the downed Rhinox. "Did I say that I wanted him off-line?" Dinobot growled.  
"Oh gee, Blackarchnia thanks for saving our butts." Blackarchnia scowled.  
"What are you expecting? A trophy?....."  
"Yeah...... and this might do." Blackarchnia smiled, kneeling down for Rhinox's chain gun. Dinobot growled at the widow and snatched the gun, and dropped it next to Rhinox in a 'leave Rhinox alone' gesture. Blakarachnia backed off a bit but still kept on smiling. Dinobot went to pick up his tail-shield, while Blackarachnia looked around the cave.  
"Wait a minute! I think I remember this place!"  
  
Cheetor was still pacing in his cell. He could hear Tarantulus cackle away on the Axalon computer. But the humour seemed directed mostly by some technological inadequacy of the previous maximals; Apparently Megatron had taken the disk with him, so the spider was trying to learn whatever the previous maximals had learnt of the disk, from the ship's computer. This didn't turn out to be much. Cheetor growled in his cage annoyed at the constant laughter, wondering what could be worse, and afraid to find out, for that was probably in store for him. Frustrated at this thought, Cheetor decided to try escaping. He looked up and down the laser beams and set his mind to work on devising a way out...........  
  
Wow. This chapter took a moment. Too busy Xmas shopping and working. I tried to avoid any moral arguments, but they ended up popping up anyway. And yes, I just couldn't help but use a joke from 'dude, where's my car?' (The 'and then's in Megatron's head). Any hoo, please review! Input is always helpful, even if it is a flame. Happy Xmas!! ^_^ 


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